Body of missing 26-year-old man thought to be found on feeder road

Police found clothing, motorcycle matching his description at scene

Family and close friends of Gerean Brown react to hearing the news that police had found a motorcycle and a body believed to be Brown's nearby. Last seen leaving a club near his Fifth Ward home, 26-year-old Brown had been missing for 10 days.﻿ less

Family and close friends of Gerean Brown react to hearing the news that police had found a motorcycle and a body believed to be Brown's nearby. Last seen leaving a club near his Fifth Ward home, 26-year-old ... more

Photo: Yi-Chin Lee / Houston Chronicle, GereanBrown

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Houston Police Department officers investigate the scene where a mowing crew found a motorcycle and a badly decomposed body near the feeder road of U.S. 59 North, just south of Loop 610. Police said the crash likely was an accident. less

Houston Police Department officers investigate the scene where a mowing crew found a motorcycle and a badly decomposed body near the feeder road of U.S. 59 North, just south of Loop 610. Police said the crash ... more

Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff

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Shirley Davidson, mother of Gerean Brown, holding Brown's daughter while waiting for more information from the police after hearing that the police had found a body just after they started searching for Brown one block away Thursday, June 8, 2017, in Houston. Clothing on the body found at 3900 block of Eastex Freeway matched description of the missing man. Brown, 26, went missing after he left Mr. A's club 10 days ago. ( Yi-Chin Lee / Houston Chronicle ) less

Shirley Davidson, mother of Gerean Brown, holding Brown's daughter while waiting for more information from the police after hearing that the police had found a body just after they started searching for Brown ... more

Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff

Body of missing 26-year-old man thought to be found on feeder road

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Shirley Davidson knew something was wrong when she didn't hear from her reliable 26-year-old son for two days.

Gerean Brown was close to his family, including his two young children and their mother. He always called, even if it was just to say he was running late from work.

In an attempt to gather clues, Davidson, concerned friends and community activist Quanell X gathered Thursday afternoon near the northbound feeder road of the Eastex Freeway, just south of Loop 610, where Brown was last seen May 29 on his motorcycle.

An already tearful Davidson hoped to find a witness. Instead, she was met with her worst fear: a dozen police cars with lights flashing and officers cordoning off an area where maintenance crews mowing the grass had just found a body believed to be her son's.

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Davidson screamed and fell to the ground.

While Houston police did not confirm the identity of the body on Thursday afternoon, a motorcycle at the scene matched Brown's. Red shoes and a red belt matched what Brown was wearing the night he disappeared after leaving a club just blocks away, Quanell said.

"Everything fits Mr. Gerean Brown's description," Quanell said.

TxDOT spokesman Danny Perez said the crew was performing routine maintenance - about once every three months the grass is mowed.

When they stumbled across the body, it was severely decomposed.

The grass appeared to have obscured the corpse and motorcycle from neighborhood search crews who had combed the feeder roads in days prior, said HPD Executive Assistant Chief Troy Finner.

About 70 relatives and neighbors watched around 2 p.m. Thursday from the opposite side of the feeder road as the medical examiner loaded the body in the van.

Tears ran down the face of Cortney Lee, 24, the mother of Brown's children.

"He was a good father," she said, shaking her head.

Friends and family embraced Lee, who sat in the back of a parked pickup, intently watching the police officers. She and Davidson held the couple's two children - a 3-year-old daughter and a 1-year-old son.

Screams and sobs could be heard as relatives and neighbors heard the news.